Hi There!

Thank you so much for joining me for the podcast, Of Course .. They Make Me Crazy! I’m the host April Norris.

This episode hits my heart. Many of you know, I started this podcast because I grew up with a bipolar mother. When you live with someone with a mental illness.. it can cause havoc in everyone’s life. My beautiful mom, Joni was a victim to that too. She grew up with many ill people around her. One being my biological father. They met and had me at 15 years-old. She stayed with him as long as she could and he beat her. I witnessed it as a little girl.

I say this episode hits my heart, because joining me for this episode is this strong young woman named Clara Baldwin.

Baldwin just published a book titled - Peace Over Pieces Anthology. It contains 16 stories from real domestic abuse survivors, including her own story.

There's a line that she writes in it saying, "I feel it’s needed to stop the stigma of why she or he just doesn't leave.” In the situation of abuse, it’s not the victim's fault, and abuse can be a much more complex and suffocating than people realize.

I relate to that because for many years I held judgement on my mom for not leaving or not turning around and inflicting as much pain on my biological father as he did on her. I can have pretty twisted thoughts sometimes!

Even if you weren't the one being abused ... the trauma of witnessing it is still horrific.

Clara Baldwin shares her story of growing up with an abusive father. And, she's grown up to do amazing things. It goes to show you things can get better!

Whether your living in an abusive household now or have ... we believe hearing this episode might give you mental strength you need.

You can find Clara Baldwin and her book at www.peace-over-pieces.org.

Please reach out to me at [email protected]. Think about joining the private Facebook Group I created. Just send me an email and I’ll send you the link. It’s also in the IG bio page on @ofcoursetheymakecrazy.

And, you can listen to all the podcasts at www.ofcoursetheymakemecrazy.com

Love,

April Norris

#Mentalhealthpodcast​​ #Crazyfamilystories​